This Isn't a Date, is it?
by Hypnotoad76
Summary: After the Inspector Spacetime Convention Jeff and Annie go out to dinner, which may mean more then either of them realize.


After Jeff had caused a good portion of the convention geeks to bow down to him he spent the rest of the day with the group at the convention. While he severely doubted he'd ever go to something like this again, he privately concluded he didn't completely hate it. There were even a couple of bright spots, like when he and Annie were looking through a collection of comics some guy was selling and Jeff found issue 248 of _The Amazing Spider-Man_ (which he had been looking for for some time). 

By the time dinnertime rolled around Jeff and Annie decided to go get something to eat. But between the Inspector Spacetime geeks following Jeff and the hotel staff still under the impression that Jeff and Annie were married and Jeff was cheating on his wife, the two of them ended up going somewhere else to eat. They ended up finding a restaurant a block from the hotel. It wasn't ultra-fancy, but it was definitely a few steps up from an Applebees or a TGI Fridays.

"Hello, we'd like a table for two," Jeff said.

The maître d took a moment to look at the guest log. "We don't have anything right now, but a table should open in ten to fifteen minutes. If you'd like you can wait at the bar until your table is ready."

"Is that good?" Jeff asked Annie.

"That's fine."

"Okay. Put the reservation under Winger and we'll wait for our table," Jeff said to the maître de before he and Annie went over to the bar and got two seats.

"I guess it's only custom if I buy you the first drink. What would you like?" He groaned as she gave him a playful look. "Seriously, come on. It was bad enough when I ordered it at the hotel."

"Well you asked," she said with a smile. Annie playfully rolled her eyes as she turned to the bartender. "Fine, I'll save you the embarrassment. I'll have-."

"The lady will have an Appletini," Jeff said, cringing at having said it and immediately feeling better when Annie smiled at him. "Enjoy that, because it's the last time I'm ordering you that drink. And I'll have a Macallan neat-."

"With a couple drops of spring water." Jeff looked at Annie in surprise as she shrugged. "Troy may have said that you told him it makes scotch taste better."

"At least something good came out of that night. The most I can remember is Shirley storming out and arguing with Britta about _The Hurt Locker_."

"That definitely wasn't the best night for any of us," Annie said as their drinks arrived. They clinked their glasses together and took a sip of their alcoholic concoctions. "I still don't know how you can drink that stuff. I tried some before I came to the lobby and it was terrible."

"It's an acquired taste. And I didn't start drinking it until I was 25. First I drank beer, then rum, and then gin before I settled on Scotch. You've only been drinking for a couple of years. You still have time to figure out what you like."

"I don't know, I like these," she said as she took a sip. "They taste good and I like that its green."

"If it's just the color I would have thought you'd go for a purple drink."

"Do they even make purple drinks?" Annie asked.

"There's one way to find out," Jeff said as he signaled to the bartender. "Excuse me. Do you know of any drinks that are purple in color?"

"There's a Belmont cocktail," the bartender said. "It's gin, raspberry liqueur and cream in a Martine glass."

"The lady will have one of those."

"You're going to get me drunk Jeff," Annie said as she finished her Appletini.

"Wow, you really are a lightweight if it only takes two drinks to do you in."

Annie scoffed as the bartender set the purple drink in front of her. She tentatively lifted it to her lips and took a careful sip. "It's not bad."

"See, you're expanding."

"I remember when I thought Screwdrivers were great. But I like this."

Just then a hostess came over and informed them that their table was ready. They followed her through the restaurant until they were seated at a somewhat secluded table. They sat in comfortable silence as they scanned their menus, deciding on what to get.

"Good evening." Annie looked up as a woman stood in front of their table, smiling heavily at Jeff. "My name is Kelly and I'll be your server tonight. Our specials this evening are the buffalo chicken flat bead appetizer and the shrimp bisque. For dinner we have pan fried swordfish and a filet mignon sautéed in a red wine sauce."

"I'm still deciding. Annie, why don't you order first," Jeff said as he went back to looking at his menu.

"I'll have a cup of the shrimp bisque you mentioned to start, and the ranch chicken and avocado sandwich."

The waitress quickly wrote that down before shamelessly batting her eyelashes at Jeff. "And what will you be having sir?"

"I'll have the beef tenderloin with green beans and a side salad with light vinaigrette dressing on the side," Jeff said, barely looking up at the waitress. The woman stood there for a moment before writing that down and taking their menus before leaving. "What?" Jeff asked as he saw the small smile on Annie's face.

"Nothing. I don't know if you noticed, but she was completely flirting with you."

"Kind of hard to miss."

"It seems a little rude to do it right in front of me like that. I mean, she had no idea who I was to you."

"Yeah. She could have been flirting with my wife," Jeff said with a smirk. "At least you didn't throw a drink in my face this time."

"Again, I'm sorry about that. I just got caught up in the fantasy and was trying to save face."

"It was a little surprising just how committed you were. When I went up to the room it looked like we had been staying there for days," he said.

"I know. But you know me. When I do something I don't half-ass it. Plus when you live with Troy and Abed, it's easy to take role playing to extremes. But like I said before, it was just a more extreme version of what I've done before. It doesn't mean I'm stalking you or anything. Let's just laugh about it and put it behind us."

"Before we do I just have one more pressing question. The hair on my pillow-."

"It wasn't yours," Annie said with an eye roll. "I mean, it was, but not because it fell out. It was just some hair that had collected in your hairbrush. Which happens to _everyone_. My hair isn't falling out and there's still a bunch in my hairbrush. So don't worry, your hair is as magnificent and full as always."

"That's good. Because when I saw that I was on the verge of pouring all my savings into science to stop that atrocity."

Annie chuckled as she took a sip of her Belmont cocktail. "All right, admit it, you had fun today didn't you?"

"I still stand by what I said on the couch. A scifi convention isn't something I'd ever seek out. But, I didn't completely hate it."

"I think jumping on stage and ripping your shirt open while yelling for people to worship you means you had more fun than 'I didn't completely hate it'," Annie said with a laugh.

"Well, maybe you're not the only one who can get caught up in something," Jeff said. "And really, who doesn't appreciate seeing me without a shirt. I'm sure that's what you were thinking."

"Actually, if you want to know, when you did that I was thinking you'd make a great father."

Jeff choked on his scotch at those words. That was the last thing he had expected her to say. "What-where did that come from?"

"I was just thinking how parents usually put their children before themselves to make them happy. Like you did when you embarrassed yourself just to make a bunch of Inspector Spacetime fans happy. And how good parents aren't afraid to act silly and have fun with their kids. I mean, I can't remember my parents ever not being concerned with their image or ever doing something silly with me. So when you did that, it just made me think that if you were a father you wouldn't think twice about being silly and playing with your kids. I know you like to act all cool and suave, but I think if you did had kids you'd be a total goofball."

Jeff sat there staring at Annie, at a complete loss for words at what she had just said to him. He waited for himself to deny what she said, and to scoff at the idea of ever having kids. But instead he just surprisingly said "Thanks." They sat there awkward for a few moments before Jeff said, "I've pretty much already guessed this, but your parents were hard on you growing up, weren't they?"

Annie nodded her head as her eyes filled with grim sadness. "They felt that to be successful you had to work hard and not waste your time with 'useless silly shenanigans'. To them you could work hard and be successful, or be silly and mediocre. And no child of theirs was going to be mediocre. Even when they let me have fun it always had to have some kind of educational purpose behind it. When I had dolls my mom never just let me play with them. She would have me learn how to properly hold them and such. And she would get annoyed and 'correct' me when I just wanted to play and use my imagination."

Jeff tried to keep calm, but his eyes blazed with anger at what he was hearing. Every time he learned another piece of what Annie had to endure growing up, he was amazed she had been able to become such a well-rounded stable person. "Well, if our friends have taught us anything, it's that you can have fun and play well into adulthood."

"That's true. And whatever fun I've missed out on I've made up for since going to Greendale and meeting everyone."

"You live with Troy and Abed, the masters of being silly. How could you not," Jeff said. "And what you said about me before, it applies to you too. Just look at how you are with your housemates. You reel them in and are pretty much the den mother of that place, but you also have no trouble having fun and being silly. I mean, you put on puppet show for me and Britta when you first moved in. I think that effectively proves my point."

Annie giggled as she remembered that. "I'd forgotten about that puppet show. Thank you Jeff, for saying that stuff. It means a lot."

They continued talking as the evening went on, greatly enjoying each other's company. Though Jeff generally saw Annie almost every day of the week, it was rare for him to spend time with just her and not her and the group. He couldn't even remember if they'd ever a meal together just by themselves. If it was anything like tonight, Jeff wanted them to do this more often. They talked about many various topics, from what Annie might want to do instead of healthcare to friendly debate over what would be the biggest movie of the holiday season (Annie feeling _Les Misérables_ would be the big holiday movie, while Jeff predicted that it would either be _The Hobbit_ or _Django Unchained_.) They talked long after their food arrived and they consumed their meals. It was over two hours after they sat down when they realized how long they had been in the restaurant.

"Wow, we've been here a while," Jeff said as he looked at the bill. He shook his head as Annie started reaching for her wallet. "Don't worry, I've got it."

"Jeff, that's sweet. But I don't mind paying for my-."

"Annie, I've _got_ this. Just take care of the tip and we'll call it even."

"Okay," she said with a smile as she put some money on the table. "So it's just like the beginning of _Reservoir Dogs_? You pay for the meal and I pay the tip."

"You've spent way too much time with Abed and Troy," he said. They waited until Jeff's credit card went through before they got up and left.

"Do what happens now?" Annie asked. "Are we going back to Greendale?"

"Well, we already have paid hotel rooms. And it's not like we can get a refund if we leave now. Why don't we just stay the night and go back tomorrow?"

"Okay," Annie said.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As they walked into her room Annie looked around a bit apprehensively, seeing all the ways she had indulged in her little fantasy. She knew Jeff had already seen everything, but she still worried about his reaction at again seeing the pretend domesticness she had orchestrated. But to her relief he didn't mention her earlier charade as he made his way through the room.

"So what do you want to do? We can see if they have a game room in the lobby. Or get a deck of cards."

"I wouldn't mind watching a movie," Annie said.

"Yeah, that'll work." Jeff grabbed the remote and laid down on top of the made bed, with Annie tentatively laying down next to him as he searched through the hotel movie selection.

"Oh, what about _Moonrise Kingdom_? I wanted to see that," Annie said excitedly.

"I'm not a big Wes Anderson fan. Plus it seems too cutsy."

"I like cutsy."

"I _know_," Jeff said amusingly. He continued looking around for something they'd both like. "What about _The Campaign_? Is that good?"

"Yeah, I'll watch that. I liked _Anchorman _and _Blades of Glory_."

Jeff ordered the movie before getting kicking his shoes off and getting comfortable. At first Annie stayed on her side of the bed. But as the movie started Annie unconsciously moved closer and closer to Jeff, to where it wasn't long before they were right next to each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff opened his eyes, wondering where that obnoxious noise was coming from. He soon realized it was coming from some guy screaming about ski resorts on the information menu. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. He started to stretch when he suddenly realized he wasn't alone.

He looked over at Annie, seeing that she was fast asleep. She was snuggled up against his side, with an arm lightly intertwined with his own. He chuckled as he saw that the toes on her right foot were lightly wiggling against his leg.

He started to shake her awake when he took a moment to look at her face. She seemed so peaceful and relaxed. He found he didn't have the heart to wake her up, or risk it by trying to go to his own bed. Instead he carefully retrieved a spare blanket that had fallen off the bed and draped up over them. He heard her let out a small sigh of content as he made sure she was tucked in before switching off the nightstand lamp.

Jeff tried to fall back to sleep, but couldn't as he found himself thinking about how the evening had gone. Despite the fact that he hadn't dined with Annie before, the evening had had a very familiar feeling to it. Like he was doing something he had done many times before. It was almost like-.

Jeff stiffened as he realized that their dinner had been just like being on a date. But that was crazy. This was Annie here. And…

And as much as he wanted to think of a million reasons why going on a date with Annie was bad, right now he couldn't think of that many. Truth be told, if this had indeed been a date, it was quite possibly the best date he had ever been on. She had been so easy to talk to, and was able to have an actual conversation with him. And more importantly, he had wanted to have a conversation with her. Instead of rushing through the dinner portion to get to what comes later, he had enjoyed being able to talk to her. Even this whole thing of falling asleep while watching a movie wasn't that terrible.

He never thought he would have enjoyed being on a date so much that didn't end with sex. But like most things they ended up doing together, his opinion of the activity changed when he was in her company. He could actually see himself doing this with her again. And seeing things go further. Not just sexually (which made him feel excited instead of his past feelings of discomfort), but further in how their current relationship might go. Maybe…even someday where today's charade wasn't strictly pretend.

Those were Jeff's final thoughts as he drifted off into slumber, and looked forward to waking up in the morning with Annie by his side.


End file.
